The Yiddish Chambered Secrets of Harry Potter
He’s back!
The wunderkind with a storied bloodline, whose magical adventures in applying seemingly arcane lore have delighted children of all ages, is back with a storybook.
We’re referring, of course, to Teaneck native Arun Schaechter Viswanath, heir to generations of Yiddish linguistic knowledge and creativity (we’ve written about his mother’s and grandfather’s contributions to Yiddish lexicography many times).
An internet strategist by day, by night he brings all his Yiddishkeit yichus to the glamorous-in-certain-arguably-quite-small-circles task of translating the adventures of Harry Potter into mama lashon.
On Sunday, he’ll launch the second volume in the series: Harry Potter un der filosofisher shteyn, which we’re not going to bother to translate: Yiddish’s Germanic roots are close enough to English’s that any of our readers over the age of 8, and some under, ought to be able to figure it out for themselves.
The book, like the original English edition, includes words not found in existing dictionaries. Words like צױבעניכטס (squib), קפֿיצהן (apparate), שפּראָכשנעל (Kwikspell), and פּיקסל (pixie).
To join the book launch, either in person in Queens or online, drop an email to cycobooks@aol.com. To buy the book, search for “Yiddish Harry Potter” at Etsy.com.
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